


Rain

by Jimena



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2016-01-25
Packaged: 2018-05-16 04:24:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5814004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jimena/pseuds/Jimena
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Having grown up alone on a desert planet, Rey is feeling a bit...overwhelmed by it all</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rain

_Plip plop plip plop plip plop_

Rey squeezed her eyes shut harder and drew her blanket over her head, willing herself to sleep despite the incessant drum of water plinking against the roof over her head. If someone had told her months ago that listening to water falling from the sky would keep her awake at night and drive her mad, she might have laughed in their face. Water was pure. Water was sweet. Water was life. Water was _damn annoying_.

_Plip plop plip plop plip plop plip plop_

She groaned and turned onto her back, throwing an arm across her face and bitterly resigning herself to the fact that she wasn’t going to get any sleep _again_ tonight. She sat up from her nest of blankets on the floor, blinking owlishly around the darkened store room. Technically, she had a bunk in the Resistance’s crew quarters, but after the first week of no sleep because her bed was too damn soft ( _drowning in sand that inevitably turned to blood-soaked snow_ ), she’d cast around for a spot that had a hard enough floor and didn’t feel so _exposed_ as a roomful of people she didn’t know.

_Plip plop plip plop_

She scrubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand and decided that if she wasn’t going to sleep, she might as well be productive. She folded her blankets and stashed them away in an empty crate next to the small cache of food she’d squirreled away, leaving no noticeable trace that she’d been staying there for the better part of three weeks. She didn’t think she’d get in trouble for sleeping there, but she hadn’t exactly asked permission either, and old habits of caution were hard to break.

_Plip plop plip plop plip plop_

The base corridors were almost completely empty this early in the morning, a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of the day, and Rey felt herself relax slightly. Everyone here seemed to know who she was, and they were all kind and helpful in a way that she often felt grateful for but sometimes just found baffling. She swung by the cafeteria and grabbed a roll and a piece of fruit she didn’t recognize off a platter that always seemed to be full no matter what the time of day or how often she stopped by. She hesitated just a moment before guiltily swiping nearly a half-dozen more and stashing them in her bag for later, just in case.

_Plip plop plip plop plip plop plip plop plip plop_

She made a beeline for the hangar and paused at the door, just breathing in the familiar acrid tang of metal, grease, and hydraulic fluid. She headed towards a workbench that was littered with rusted and slightly broken parts just waiting for someone with a wire brush to clean them up and get them in some semblance of working order again. The work was mind-numbingly familiar, but then that’s what she’d been looking for, anything to focus on besides the raindrops pattering overhead that made her flinch every time they hit, almost as if she could feel each individual drop against her skin.

_Plip plop plip plop plip plop_

“You haven’t been sleeping.”

Rey sat up abruptly and immediately regretted it as she knocked her head against the landing strut of the x-wing she’d been taking a look at. Cursing to herself, she looked up through watering eyes to see General Organa standing there with a small frown on her face. She felt her heart sink and wondered if it would worth it to pretend she hadn’t heard. “I was just taking a look at it. I noticed during the training runs yesterday that it wasn’t turning as quickly as it should, and I finished cleaning and fixing up the spare parts, so…”

The general looked over at the now-organized workbench and raised one eyebrow as Rey trailed off awkwardly. She tried not to fidget as General Organa regarded her steadily, and almost sighed with relief when she broke the silence. “You know, we do have mechanics.”

Rey shrugged one shoulder self-consciously as she tried to swipe the grease off her face. Judging from the general’s amused expression, she’d only managed to smear it around even more. Great. “I like to feel useful,” she said quietly. _Only useful things—parts, droids, people—survive_ , she carefully didn’t say.

Apparently, she didn’t need to, and she felt an irrational stab of anger as the general looked at her with something very like pity in her eyes. But there was also understanding.

“Luke used to have trouble with the rain too, at first.”

_Plip plop plip plop plip plop_

Rey couldn’t quite rein in her flinch.

“Is that what’s been keeping you awake?” the general asked gently.

Rey shook her head. “That’s part of it, I guess,” she admitted, “but it’s—I don’t even know how to describe it.” She made a small noise of frustration and tucked herself back under the x-wing.

General Organa waited patiently as she fiddled with the wiring under the right rear stabilizer and gathered her thoughts.

“It’s everything,” she said at last. “The bed’s too soft, and I keep having nightmares, and Finn won’t _wake up_ , and there’s so much food, and so much water, and there’s too many people just talking, and eating, and breathing, and I can _feel_ them all, every last one of them, and they all expect me to be, you expect me to be— _I’m no one_ —someone I’m not sure I can be.” She leaned her head against the cool metal of the x-wing and huffed a laugh. “Never thought I’d miss Jakku.”

_Plip plop plip plop_

She sniffed and swiped a hand across her cheeks, slightly startled when it came away wet. Was she crying? She couldn’t be crying. Crying was a stupid waste of precious water and—only now she didn’t have to worry about that, did she?

_Plip plop_

“I hated that planet, did you know?” she said so quietly that the general had to strain to hear. “The sandstorms were the worst. The wind would howl outside my home for days, and the sand would be so thick that it felt like I was choking on it, and it was coarse and rough and it got everywhere.” She gave the wires a vicious twist. “And yet it’s here, with a comfy bed, and plenty of food, and more than enough water that I can’t sleep.” She closed the access hatch and scrabbled on the ground for a wrench to tighten down the bolts.

She heard General Organa sigh before her hand closed on the wrench in mid-air. She looked down in surprise, and saw the general crouched down under the x-wing holding it out to her. Her eyes were unfathomably kind.

“Your entire life has been turned upside down. I think you’ve earned the right to be a little confused and frustrated, angry even. In fact, I’d be a bit more worried if you weren’t.”

Rey took the wrench wordlessly, wrestling with her feelings, and set to work on the bolts.

_Plip_

“And I must say, I’m glad to finally know the reason you’ve been camping out in my storeroom.”

Rey dropped the wrench on her face and cursed again. “You know about that?” she asked.

“This is a military base, Rey,” General Organa explained, amusement plain in her voice, “And the first thing you need to know about the military is everybody talks.”

“…Right.” She tightened down the last bolt and crawled out from under the x-wing. “I think that should do it.”

The general helped pull her to her feet, heedless of her grease-covered hands. “Good, I’m glad.” They regarded the x-wing together silently for a moment.

“It will get better, won’t it?” Rey asked.

“With time, I promise,” the general responded with a nod. She steered the younger girl towards the exit. “Now go clean up, grab some hot food, and try to get some sleep. It sounds like the storm’s ending.”

Rey tried and failed to stifle a yawn. “Thank you, General.”

General Organa smiled as she squeezed her shoulder. “Please, call me Leia.”

_Plop_

**Author's Note:**

> I may have wrote this at 1 in the morning, so I apologize for any obvious mistakes as I was too tired to edit. Hope ya'll enjoyed!


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